1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dental materials comprising calix[n]arenes having low polymerization shrinkage and comparable mechanical properties.
2. Description of the Related Art
Calix[n]arenes are cyclic oligomers, known as 1n-metacyclophanes (Scheme 1, formula 1), which are accessible by condensation of p-alkylphenols with formaldehyde (Scheme 1, formula 2) or of resorcinol with aldehydes (Scheme 1, formula 3), the phenolic OH groups being arranged in the endo (intraannular) or exo (extraannular) position. In this connection, the particular bowl- or cup-like conformation of the calix[n]arenes has resulted in numerous applications in catalysis, chromatography, analysis or sensor technology (V. Böhmer, Angew. Chem., 107 (1995), 785-818).
